Rare Vs. Common Choice Scenarios

Rare vs. Common Choice Scenarios

[EXTRA FUNDS]

The following section will ask you to read over and select which scenario you would prefer to fund.

Imagine that the Ministry of Health has received extra funds that can be used to treat 100 patients.

They must decide which of two diseases should be treated. Both diseases are very similar in terms of how they impact the patient:

Rare Disease: A very rare disease (100 cases in Canada)

Common Disease: A more common disease (10,000 cases in Canada). Assume the costs and outcomes are the same.

How do you think the extra funds should be used?

100 Patients with the Rare Disease

100 Patients with the Common Disease

k Indifferent

If it were possible to divide the extra funds so that both patients with the 'Rare Disease' and patients with the 'Common Disease' could be treated, how would you recommend that the extra funds be divided?

Allocate 100 patients for treatment by selecting from the buttons below.

All 100
for Rare
Disease
(0 for
Common) / 90 for
Rare
Disease
(10
Common) / 80 for
Rare
Disease
(20
Common) / 70 for
Rare
Disease
(30
Common) / 60 for
Rare
Disease
(40
Common) / 50 for
Rare
Disease
(50
Common) / 60 for
Common
Disease
(40
Rare) / 70 for
Common
Disease
(30
Rare) / 80 for
Common
Disease
(20
Rare) / 90 for
Common
Disease
(10
Rare) / All 100
for
Common
Disease
(0 for
Rare)
Select

Now imagine that it is less expensive to treat the 'Common Disease' than the 'Rare Disease'. With the extra funds it is now possible to treat 100 patients with the 'Rare Disease' or 400 patients with the 'Common Disease'. Otherwise, everything is the same as before. 'Rare Disease' is rare (100 cases in Canada) and 'Common Disease' is more common (10,000 cases in Canada).

How do you think the extra funds should be used?

n 100 Patients with the Rare Disease

n 400 Patients with the Common Disease

Indifferent

Allocate patients for treatment by selecting from the buttons below.

All 100
Rare
Disease
(0 for
Common
Disease) / 90 Rare
Disease,
40
Common
Disease / 80 Rare
Disease
80
Common
Disease / 70 Rare
Disease,
120
Common
Disease / 60 Rare
Disease,
160
Common
Disease / 50 Rare
Disease,
200
Common
Disease / 240
Common
Disease,
40 Rare
Disease / 280
Common
Disease,
30 Rare
Disease / 320
Common
Disease,
20 Rare
Disease / 360
Common
Disease,
10 Rare
Disease / All 400
Common
Disease
(0 Rare
Disease)
Select

[EXISTING FUNDS]

Imagine that there is a new treatment for a 'Rare Disease' (100 cases in Canada).

In order to have enough funds to treat 100 patients with the 'Rare Disease', the authorities must eliminate funding for 100 patients with a 'Common Disease' (10,000 cases in Canada).

How do you think the extra funds should be used?

100 patients with the Rare Disease should receive the new treatment

even though 100 patients with the Common Disease will lose treatment.

The number of patients receiving treatment for the Common Disease

should not be reduced even though the 100 patients with the Rare Disease

will not receive treatment.

Indifferent

If it were possible to treat a portion of the patients with the 'Rare Disease' by reducing the same number of patients currently receiving treatment for the 'Common Disease', what would you recommend?

Allocate patients for treatment by selecting from the buttons below.

All 100 for
Rare
Disease (0
for
Common) / 90 for
Rare
Disease
(10
Common) / 80 for
Rare
Disease
(20
Common) / 70 for
Rare
Disease
(30
Common) / 60 for
Rare
Disease
(40
Common) / 50 for
Rare
Disease
(50
Common) / 60 for
Common
Disease
(40 Rare) / 70 for
Common
Disease
(30 Rare) / 80 for
Common
Disease
(20 Rare) / 90 for
Common
Disease
(10 Rare) / All 100 for
Common
Disease (0
for Rare)
Select

Now imagine that it is less expensive to treat the 'Common Disease' than the 'Rare Disease'. In order to have enough funds to treat 100 patients with the 'Rare Disease', the authorities must eliminate funding for 400 patients with the 'Common Disease' (10,000 cases in Canada).

How do you think the extra funds should be used?

100 patients with the Rare Disease should receive the new treatment

even though 400 patients with the Common Disease will lose treatment.

The number of patients receiving treatment for the Common Disease

should not be reduced even though the 100 patients with the Rare Disease

will not receive treatment.

Indifferent

Allocate patients for treatment by selecting from the buttons below.

Trade-off Scenarios

In the following set of questions, you will be asked to decide between which of the two scenarios to fund.

Imagine a situation where the government is experiencing limited resources with not enough public funding to pay for all care and services being demanded.

They have to make a difficult decision on which competing services to fund. The following questions will present scenarios representing decisions they may have to make. The numbers and figures used are representative of true costs.

These are difficult decisions and there is no right or wrong answer. We are interested in learning more about your opinions about these choices.

Read through the following scenarios and choose which scenario you would want your provincial government to pay for.

Only One Of The Two Scenarios Will Be Funded.

Please Select One of the Two Options.

Would you rather spend the same amount of healthcare funds on:

1 Canadian with a rare disease whose treatment costs 100 times as much as the

average Canadians' healthcare costs.

100 Canadians, without a rare disease, who have average healthcare costs.

Would you rather fund a drug for a:

non-life threatening , but painful common disease which has many studies

showing that it is very effective (very certain the drug will reduce symptoms).

life-threatening rare disease which has very few studies, indicating it may not be

very effective (not very certain the drug will prolong life).

Would you rather spend extra funds for the drug treatment of:

100 people with a rare condition.

100 people with a common condition.

Would you rather spend extra funds for the drug treatment of:

400 people with a common condition.

100 people with a rare condition.

Would you rather spend $8 million annually for drug treatment that will:

extend the life of 30 people who have a rare disease.

extend the life of 3000 people who have a common disease.

Would you rather spend $8 million annually for drug treatment that will improve the quality of life of:

30 people with a rare condition with NO other treatment options.

3000 people with a common condition and with FEW other treatment options.

Would you rather fund a new research program focusing on developing new treatments for a:

common condition.

rare condition.

Would you rather fund a new drug treatment, at a cost of $95 million annually to treat:

250,000 patients with a common fatal disease to extend their life.

620 patients with a rare fatal disease to extend their life.

Would you rather fund a new drug treatment at a cost of $95 million annually to improve the quality of life, but not duration of life of:

250,000 Canadians with a fatal disease of old age.

620 Canadians with a fatal disease of childhood.

Would you rather spend $600,000 annually:

for a drug treatment to extend the life of 2 people with a rare disease.

increasing public nursing home beds by 10 people.

Would you rather spend $50 million annually to fund:

education costs for an additional 5000 full-time university students in your

province each year.

drug treatment that will improve the quality of life and prolong the life of 150 people

with a rare disease with no other treatment option.

Would you rather fund:

drug treatment at a cost of $20 million annually which will improve the quality of life

of 60 people suffering from a rare disease, which affects multiple organs and

joints.

the construction of a new community center at a one-time cost of $20 million to add

recreation services to your community.

Would you rather spend $400,000 annually to fund:

drug treatment for one person suffering from a rare disease, which will improve

quality and quantity of life and for which there are no other treatment options.

smoking cessation medications (to help people quit smoking, improve their health

and prevent illness) for 2500 people.